S&SFAN

Friday, August 21, 2015 3:51 PM

Day 3: National Roller Coaster Day! After the two previous days, I was a little worn out but excited for my last day. Today would be light on coasters and heavy on driving because I had to get back to Norfolk, VA. The plan was to leave Williamsport in order to get to Lakemont Park at 11am. On my drive to Lakemont I passed a sign for Delgrosso’s and decided to take a quick detour. Delgrosso’s is a nice little park about 15 miles north of Lakemont. This was my first time at the park and they didn’t open for another 30 min but you can walk around the park before it opens. It looks like they are adding a huge addition to their waterpark for next year. Right now they have most of the cement poured for a good sized lazy river. A rough estimate looks like they will easily double the size of their waterpark. They have a walking bridge that goes over the road that divides the water park from the amusement park. There is a beautiful old Carousel and then most of the normal flat rides at a family park like this. The Crazy Mouse coaster takes 5 tickets so I found the ticket booth and bought my 5 tickets. I had walked around the park and decided to go wait for maintenance to finish up on the mouse and get the first ride of the day. At 11am they opened the park with the playing of the National Anthem. I always like when parks do this to open the day. Right after the anthem the ride ops showed up and ran each car through the course and then I was the first one on for the day. This is another spinning mouse and gives a nice ride. This is the park’s main attraction and had a decent line when they opened. Thanks for the fun ride and unexpected credit.

Back in the car and off to Lakemont. My family and I stopped at Lakemont back in June on our drive east to Virginia. I was so excited to finally ride “the oldest coaster in the world” and as we walked to the park entrance I saw the sign that Leap The Dips would be closed for the day. My wife saw the sign at the same time and then saw the look on my face. I was way bummed out. We still had a great time at the park that day. The kids all got a credit that I couldn’t when they rode Little Leaper. Then we all went and got multiple laps on Skyliner. There are some good pops of air on this coaster and I love how it is right in the outfield of the local minor league baseball team. This is one of the coolest backdrops in any baseball stadium outfield I have ever seen! Then we went to conquer the Toboggan. My two oldest kids and I experienced our first toboggan two years ago at Little Amerricka. This time I convinced my wife to ride with me and the youngest also got to ride. If you are claustrophobic, never ride one of these! Most of the ride isn’t bad with the vertical lift up the tube and the spiral down, but the dips afterward are brutal. My wife has no desire to ever ride one of these again. The kids actually liked it.

Since I didn’t get to ride the main feature of this park back in June, that played into my plan of including Lakemont on this coaster road trip. On my way to Knoebels the day before I called Lakemont just to make sure Leap the Dips was up and running. I got the thumbs up from the park and I soon found myself strolling down the hill towards this unique coaster. I paid for my special souvenir ticket and stepped into the front row of the only car on the track. Off I went. This coaster has all the elements of a modern day coaster but they are all just a little different. The chain is different, the anti-rollbacks are wooden boards that are off the left and right side of the car, and you have tracks off to the sides of the car along with the bottom track. Once you get going I actually thought this moved faster than I imagined it would. With the side track it felt like I was on a log ride without the water. The fear factor on this ride is how old it is and watching the wooden planks flex all around you as you meander through its paces. This is actually a really comfortable ride with the nice padded seats. I celebrated National Roller Coaster Day with a long awaited ride on the oldest roller coaster in the world!

I was back in the car and heading towards VA by 1230pm. At 7pm I pulled into my destination.

Day #3 Complete. Final Stats for the trip: 1150 miles, 8 parks, 24 new coaster credits, the fastest coaster in the U.S., the tallest coaster in the world, the only flying turns coaster in the world, hit my 400 coaster, grabbed the brass ring, and the oldest coaster in the world. Happy National Roller Coaster Day and thanks for reading!